Special user information field for trigger frame

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides methods, devices and systems for soliciting trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs). Some implementations more specifically relate to trigger frame designs that support non-legacy TB PPDU formats. In some aspects, a trigger frame may carry information to be included in a physical layer (PHY) preamble of a TB PPDU solicited by the trigger frame. For example, the information may indicate values of one or more subfields of a universal signal field (U-SIG) associated with the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In some aspects, the information may be carried in a special user information field of the trigger frame. For example, the special user information field may be identified by a special association identifier (AID) value. The special AID value may be different than any AID values assigned to wireless communication devices in a basic service set (BSS) associated with the TB PPDU.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and morespecifically to special user information fields for trigger frames usedin wireless communications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNOLOGY

A wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more accesspoints (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for useby a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs). Thebasic building block of a WLAN conforming to the Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards is a BasicService Set (BSS), which is managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified bya Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) that is advertised by the AP. AnAP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs withinwireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication linkwith the WLAN.

Existing versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard support trigger-baseduplink communications. In particular, the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of theIEEE 802.11 standard defines a trigger frame format which can be used tosolicit the transmission of trigger-based (TB) physical layerconvergence protocol (PLCP) data units (PPDUs) from one or more STAs.The trigger frame allocates resources for the transmission of the TBPPDUs and indicates how the TB PPDUs are to be configured fortransmission. New WLAN communication protocols are being developed toenable enhanced WLAN communication features such as, for example,increases in bandwidth and number of spatial streams. As new WLANcommunication protocols enable enhanced features, new trigger frameformats are needed to support the new features and formats of TB PPDUs.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each have severalinnovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for thedesirable attributes disclosed herein.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosurecan be implemented as a method of wireless communication. The method maybe performed by a wireless communication device, and may includereceiving a trigger frame soliciting a physical layer convergenceprotocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to be transmitted by thewireless communication device, where the trigger frame includes a mediumaccess control (MAC) header, a common information field that follows theMAC header, and one or more user information fields that follow thecommon information field, where the common information field carriesinformation that is common to each user associated with the one or moreuser information fields; determining that a first user information fieldof the one or more user information fields carries information to beincluded in a physical layer (PHY) preamble of the PPDU based on anassociation identifier (AID) value associated with the first userinformation field; generating the PHY preamble based on the informationcarried in the first user information field; and transmitting the PPDUincluding the PHY preamble, over a wireless channel, responsive to thereception of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, the AID value is a special AID value and is notassigned to any wireless communication devices associated with the samebasic service set (BSS) as the wireless communication device. In someimplementations, the method further includes determining that a seconduser information field of the one or more user information fieldscarries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble basedon an AID value associated with the second user information field. Insome implementations, the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field(L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG, anda universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG andcarries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields ofthe PHY preamble.

In some implementations, the generating of the PHY preamble includesdetermining values for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on theinformation carried in the first user information field, where the oneor more subfields include at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield thatcarries information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel, aspatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whetherspatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel, or a version identifier subfield that carries informationindicating a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the PPDU.

In some implementations, the generating of the PHY preamble includesdetermining values for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on theinformation carried in the first user information field, where the oneor more subfields include at least one of an uplink or downlink (UL/DL)subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, a transmit opportunity (TXOP) subfield that carriesinformation indicating a TXOP duration associated with the PPDU, or aPPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries informationindicating a format of the PPDU.

In some implementations, the generating of the PHY preamble includesdetermining a number of reserved bits to be included in U-SIG based onthe information carried in the first user information field. In someimplementations, the method further includes determining a version of aphysical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDUbased on the AID value associated with the first user information field;and configuring a version identifier subfield of U-SIG to carryinformation indicating the determined version of the physical layerwireless communication protocol.

In some implementations, the method further includes determining whetherpuncturing is to be performed on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel based on the information carried in the first user informationfield or information carried in the common information field. In someimplementations, the method further includes determining a format of thetrigger frame based on information carried in the common informationfield, where the format is a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacytrigger frame format; and determining that the one or more userinformation fields includes the first user information field based onthe determined format of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, the method further includes determining aversion of a physical layer wireless communication protocol associatedwith the one or more user information fields based on informationcarried in at least one of the common information field or the firstuser information field, where the version of the physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol is the same for each of the one or more userinformation fields; and interpreting the information carried in thefirst user information field based on the determined PHY version.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a wireless communication device. Insome implementations, the wireless communication device may include atleast one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled with theat least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled withthe at least one processor and storing processor-readable code. In someimplementations, execution of the processor-readable code by the atleast one processor causes the wireless communication device to performoperations including receiving a trigger frame soliciting a PPDU to betransmitted by the wireless communication device, where the triggerframe includes a MAC header, a common information field that follows theMAC header, and one or more user information fields that follow thecommon information field, where the common information field carriesinformation that is common to each user associated with the one or moreuser information fields; determining that a first user information fieldof the one or more user information fields carries information to beincluded in a PHY preamble of the PPDU based on an AID value associatedwith the first user information field; generating the PHY preamble basedon the information carried in the first user information field; andtransmitting the PPDU including the PHY preamble, over a wirelesschannel, responsive to the reception of the trigger frame.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented as a method of wireless communication. Themethod may be performed by a wireless communication device, and mayinclude determining information to be included in a PHY preamble of atrigger-based (TB) PPDU; and transmitting a trigger frame soliciting theTB PPDU to be transmitted, over a wireless channel, by a receivingdevice, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a commoninformation field that follows the MAC header, and one or more userinformation fields that follow the common information field, where thecommon information field carries information that is common to each userassociated with the one or more user information fields, and where theone or more user information fields includes a first user informationfield that carries the information to be included in the PHY preamble ofthe TB PPDU.

In some implementations, the first user information field is associatedwith a special AID value and is not assigned to any wirelesscommunication devices associated with the same BSS as the receivingdevice. In some implementations, the method may further includedetermining the special AID value based on a version of a physical layerwireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU. In someimplementations, the one or more user information fields furtherincludes a second user information field that carries additionalinformation to be included in the PHY preamble. In some implementations,the PHY preamble includes an L-SIG, an RL-SIG that immediately followsL-SIG, and a U-SIG that immediately follows RL-SIG and carriesinformation for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHYpreamble.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field indicates values for one or more subfields of U-SIG,where the one or more subfields includes at least one of a PPDUbandwidth subfield that carries information indicating a bandwidth ofthe wireless channel, a spatial reuse subfield that carries informationindicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannelsof the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carriesinformation indicating a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the PPDU.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field indicates values for one or more subfields of U-SIG,where the one or more subfields includes at least one of a UL/DLsubfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating a TXOPduration associated with the PPDU, or a PPDU format and compression modesubfield that carries information indicating a format of the PPDU.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field indicates a number of reserved bits to be included inU-SIG. In some implementations, the method further includes. In someimplementations, the method further includes determining whetherpuncturing is to be performed on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel, where at least one of the common information field or the firstuser information field carries channel puncturing information indicatingwhether puncturing is to be performed on the one or more subchannels.

In some implementations, the common information field carriesinformation indicating a format of the trigger frame, where the formatis a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format.In some implementations, at least one of the common information field orthe first user information field further carries information indicatinga version of a physical layer wireless communication protocol associatedwith the one or more user information fields, where the version of thephysical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each ofthe one or more user information fields.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a wireless communication device. Insome implementations, the wireless communication device may include atleast one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled with theat least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled withthe at least one processor and storing processor-readable code. In someimplementations, execution of the processor-readable code by the atleast one processor causes the wireless communication device to performoperations including determining information to be included in a PHYpreamble of a TB PPDU; and transmitting a trigger frame soliciting theTB PPDU to be transmitted, over a wireless channel, by a receivingdevice, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a commoninformation field that follows the MAC header, and one or more userinformation fields that follow the common information field, where thecommon information field carries information that is common to each userassociated with the one or more user information fields, and where theone or more user information fields includes a first user informationfield that carries the information to be included in the PHY preamble ofthe TB PPDU.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter describedin this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will becomeapparent from the description, the drawings and the claims. Note thatthe relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn toscale.

FIG. 1 shows a pictorial diagram of an example wireless communicationnetwork.

FIG. 2A shows an example protocol data unit (PDU) usable forcommunications between an access point (AP) and one or more wirelessstations (STAs).

FIG. 2B shows an example field in the PDU of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 shows an example physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP)protocol data unit (PPDU) usable for communications between an AP andone or more STAs.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationdevice.

FIG. 5A shows a block diagram of an example AP.

FIG. 5B shows a block diagram of an example STA.

FIG. 6 shows an example PPDU usable for communications between an AP anda number of STAs according to some implementations.

FIG. 7A shows an example frame structure for a trigger-based (TB) PPDUaccording to some implementations.

FIG. 7B shows an example frame structure for a single-user (SU) PPDUaccording to some implementations.

FIG. 7C shows an example frame structure for a multi-user (MU) PPDUaccording to some implementations.

FIG. 8 shows an example frame structure of a non-legacy PPDU allocatedover multiple subchannels of a wireless channel according to someimplementations.

FIG. 9 shows an example trigger frame usable for communications betweenan AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations.

FIG. 10 shows an example user information field for a trigger frameformatted in accordance with a legacy trigger frame format.

FIGS. 11A-11C show example special user information fields according tosome implementations.

FIG. 12 shows a common information field for a trigger frame formattedin accordance with a legacy trigger frame format.

FIG. 13 shows another example trigger frame usable for communicationsbetween an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations.

FIG. 14 shows another example trigger frame usable for communicationsbetween an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations.

FIG. 15 shows another example trigger frame usable for communicationsbetween an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process for wirelesscommunication that supports special user information fields for triggerframes according to some implementations.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process for wirelesscommunication that supports special user information fields for triggerframes according to some implementations.

FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationdevice according to some implementations.

FIG. 19 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationdevice according to some implementations.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is directed to certain implementations for thepurposes of describing innovative aspects of this disclosure. However, aperson having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that theteachings herein can be applied in a multitude of different ways. Thedescribed implementations can be implemented in any device, system ornetwork that is capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency(RF) signals according to one or more of the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, the IEEE 802.15standards, the Bluetooth® standards as defined by the Bluetooth SpecialInterest Group (SIG), or the Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G or 5G(New Radio (NR)) standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP), among others. The described implementations can beimplemented in any device, system or network that is capable oftransmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of thefollowing technologies or techniques: code division multiple access(CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA(SC-FDMA), single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) andmulti-user (MU) MIMO. The described implementations also can beimplemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signalssuitable for use in one or more of a wireless personal area network(WPAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN), or an internet of things (IOT) network.

Various aspects relate generally to trigger-based communications thatsupport new wireless communication protocols, and more particularly, totrigger frame designs that support non-legacy trigger-based (TB)physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDU)formats. As used herein, the term “non-legacy” may refer to PPDU formatsand communication protocols conforming to the IEEE 802.11be amendment,and future generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In contrast, theterm “legacy” may be used herein to refer to PPDU formats andcommunication protocols conforming to the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of theIEEE 802.11 standard. In some aspects, a trigger frame may carryinformation to be included in a physical layer (PHY) preamble of a TBPPDU solicited by the trigger frame (referred to herein as “preambleinformation”). For example, the preamble information may indicate valuesof one or more subfields of a universal signal field (U-SIG) associatedwith the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In some aspects, the preambleinformation may be carried in a special user information field of thetrigger frame. For example, the special user information field may beidentified by a special association identifier (AID) value that isreserved in the legacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard. The specialAID value may be different than any AID values assigned to wirelesscommunication devices in a basic service set (BSS) associated with theTB PPDU.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the followingpotential advantages. By soliciting transmission of non-legacy TB PPDUs,the trigger frame designs of the present disclosure may support gains indata throughput achievable in accordance with the IEEE 802.11beamendment, and future generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard. Forexample, aspects of the present disclosure recognize that some fields ofthe PHY preamble (such as U-SIG) are configured per 20 MHz subchannel.In other words, all wireless communication devices transmitting PPDUsconcurrently on the same (or overlapping) 20 MHz subchannel musttransmit identical information in the U-SIG of their respective PPDUswithin that 20 MHz subchannel. By including preamble information in atrigger frame, aspects of the present disclosure may enable thereceiving device to configure the U-SIG of the solicited TB PPDU to beconsistent with (or identical to) the U-SIG of other PPDUs concurrentlytransmitted on the same 20 MHz subchannels. By providing the preambleinformation in a special user information field (associated with areserved AID value in the legacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard),the trigger frame designs of the present disclosure may be compatiblewith legacy and non-legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationnetwork 100. According to some aspects, the wireless communicationnetwork 100 can be an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN)such as a Wi-Fi network (and will hereinafter be referred to as WLAN100). For example, the WLAN 100 can be a network implementing at leastone of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocolstandards (such as that defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification oramendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad,802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba and 802.11be). The WLAN 100 mayinclude numerous wireless communication devices such as an access point(AP) 102 and multiple stations (STAs) 104. While only one AP 102 isshown, the WLAN network 100 also can include multiple APs 102.

Each of the STAs 104 also may be referred to as a mobile station (MS), amobile device, a mobile handset, a wireless handset, an access terminal(AT), a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), or a subscriberunit, among other possibilities. The STAs 104 may represent variousdevices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistant (PDAs), otherhandheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers,laptops, display devices (for example, TVs, computer monitors,navigation systems, among others), music or other audio or stereodevices, remote control devices (“remotes”), printers, kitchen or otherhousehold appliances, key fobs (for example, for passive keyless entryand start (PKES) systems), among other possibilities.

A single AP 102 and an associated set of STAs 104 may be referred to asa basic service set (BSS), which is managed by the respective AP 102.FIG. 1 additionally shows an example coverage area 106 of the AP 102,which may represent a basic service area (BSA) of the WLAN 100. The BSSmay be identified to users by a service set identifier (SSID), as wellas to other devices by a basic service set identifier (BSSID), which maybe a medium access control (MAC) address of the AP 102. The AP 102periodically broadcasts beacon frames (“beacons”) including the BSSID toenable any STAs 104 within wireless range of the AP 102 to “associate”or re-associate with the AP 102 to establish a respective communicationlink 108 (hereinafter also referred to as a “Wi-Fi link”), or tomaintain a communication link 108, with the AP 102. For example, thebeacons can include an identification of a primary channel used by therespective AP 102 as well as a timing synchronization function forestablishing or maintaining timing synchronization with the AP 102. TheAP 102 may provide access to external networks to various STAs 104 inthe WLAN via respective communication links 108.

The APs 102 and STAs 104 may function and communicate (via therespective communication links 108) according to the IEEE 802.11 familyof wireless communication protocol standards (such as that defined bythe IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or amendments thereof including, butnot limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az,802.11ba and 802.11be). These standards define the WLAN radio andbaseband protocols for the PHY and medium access control (MAC) layers.The APs 102 and STAs 104 transmit and receive wireless communications(hereinafter also referred to as “Wi-Fi communications”) to and from oneanother in the form of physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP)protocol data units (PPDUs). The APs 102 and STAs 104 in the WLAN 100may transmit PPDUs over an unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portionof spectrum that includes frequency bands traditionally used by Wi-Fitechnology, such as the 2.4 GHz band, the 5 GHz band, the 60 GHz band,the 3.6 GHz band, and the 700 MHz band. Some implementations of the APs102 and STAs 104 described herein also may communicate in otherfrequency bands, such as the 6 GHz band, which may support both licensedand unlicensed communications. The APs 102 and STAs 104 also can beconfigured to communicate over other frequency bands such as sharedlicensed frequency bands, where multiple operators may have a license tooperate in the same or overlapping frequency band or bands.

Access to the shared wireless medium is generally governed by adistributed coordination function (DCF). With a DCF, there is generallyno centralized master device allocating time and frequency resources ofthe shared wireless medium. On the contrary, before a wirelesscommunication device, such as an AP 102 or a STA 104, is permitted totransmit data, it must wait for a particular time and then contend foraccess to the wireless medium. In some implementations, the wirelesscommunication device may be configured to implement the DCF through theuse of carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) with collision avoidance(CA) (CSMA/CA) techniques and timing intervals. Before transmittingdata, the wireless communication device may perform a clear channelassessment (CCA) and determine that the appropriate wireless channel isidle. The CCA includes both physical (PHY-level) carrier sensing andvirtual (MAC-level) carrier sensing. Physical carrier sensing isaccomplished via a measurement of the received signal strength of avalid frame, which is then compared to a threshold to determine whetherthe channel is busy. For example, if the received signal strength of adetected preamble is above a threshold, the medium is considered busy.Physical carrier sensing also includes energy detection. Energydetection involves measuring the total energy the wireless communicationdevice receives regardless of whether the received signal represents avalid frame. If the total energy detected is above a threshold, themedium is considered busy. Virtual carrier sensing is accomplished viathe use of a network allocation vector (NAV), an indicator of a timewhen the medium may next become idle. The NAV is reset each time a validframe is received that is not addressed to the wireless communicationdevice. The NAV effectively serves as a time duration that must elapsebefore the wireless communication device may contend for access even inthe absence of a detected symbol or even if the detected energy is belowthe relevant threshold.

Some APs and STAs may be configured to implement spatial reusetechniques. For example, APs and STAs configured for communicationsusing IEEE 802.11ax or 802.11be may be configured with a BSS color. APsassociated with different BSSs may be associated with different BSScolors. If an AP or a STA detects a wireless packet from anotherwireless communication device while contending for access, the AP or STAmay apply different contention parameters based on whether the wirelesspacket is transmitted by, or transmitted to, another wirelesscommunication device within its BSS or from a wireless communicationdevice from an overlapping BSS (OBSS), as determined by a BSS colorindication in a preamble of the wireless packet. For example, if the BSScolor associated with the wireless packet is the same as the BSS colorof the AP or STA, the AP or STA may use a first received signal strengthindication (RSSI) detection threshold when performing a CCA on thewireless channel. However, if the BSS color associated with the wirelesspacket is different than the BSS color of the AP or STA, the AP or STAmay use a second RSSI detection threshold in lieu of using the firstRSSI detection threshold when performing the CCA on the wirelesschannel, the second RSSI detection threshold being greater than thefirst RSSI detection threshold. In this way, the requirements forwinning contention are relaxed when interfering transmissions areassociated with an OBSS.

FIG. 2A shows an example protocol data unit (PDU) 200 usable forwireless communication between an AP 102 and one or more STAs 104. Forexample, the PDU 200 can be configured as a PPDU. As shown, the PDU 200includes a PHY preamble 202 and a PHY payload 204. For example, thepreamble 202 may include a legacy portion that itself includes a legacyshort training field (L-STF) 206, which may consist of two BPSK symbols,a legacy long training field (L-LTF) 208, which may consist of two BPSKsymbols, and a legacy signal field (L-SIG) 210, which may consist of twoBPSK symbols. The legacy portion of the preamble 202 may be configuredaccording to the IEEE 802.11a wireless communication protocol standard.The preamble 202 may also include a non-legacy portion including one ormore non-legacy fields 212, for example, conforming to an IEEE wirelesscommunication protocol such as the IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be orlater wireless communication protocol protocols.

The L-STF 206 generally enables a receiving device to perform automaticgain control (AGC) and coarse timing and frequency estimation. The L-LTF208 generally enables a receiving device to perform fine timing andfrequency estimation and also to perform an initial estimate of thewireless channel. The L-SIG 210 generally enables a receiving device todetermine a duration of the PDU and to use the determined duration toavoid transmitting on top of the PDU. For example, the L-STF 206, theL-LTF 208 and the L-SIG 210 may be modulated according to a binary phaseshift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. The payload 204 may be modulatedaccording to a BPSK modulation scheme, a quadrature BPSK (Q-BPSK)modulation scheme, a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulationscheme, or another appropriate modulation scheme. The payload 204 mayinclude a PSDU including a data field (DATA) 214 that, in turn, maycarry higher layer data, for example, in the form of medium accesscontrol (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) or an aggregated MPDU(A-MPDU).

FIG. 2B shows an example L-SIG 210 in the PDU 200 of FIG. 2A. The L-SIG210 includes a data rate field 222, a reserved bit 224, a length field226, a parity bit 228, and a tail field 230. The data rate field 222indicates a data rate (note that the data rate indicated in the datarate field 212 may not be the actual data rate of the data carried inthe payload 204). The length field 226 indicates a length of the packetin units of, for example, symbols or bytes. The parity bit 228 may beused to detect bit errors. The tail field 230 includes tail bits thatmay be used by the receiving device to terminate operation of a decoder(for example, a Viterbi decoder). The receiving device may utilize thedata rate and the length indicated in the data rate field 222 and thelength field 226 to determine a duration of the packet in units of, forexample, microseconds (μs) or other time units.

FIG. 3 shows an example PPDU 300 usable for communications between an AP102 and one or more STAs 104. As described above, each PPDU 300 includesa PHY preamble 302 and a PSDU 304. Each PSDU 304 may represent (or“carry”) one or more MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) 316. For example,each PSDU 304 may carry an aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU) 306 that includes anaggregation of multiple A-MPDU subframes 308. Each A-MPDU subframe 306may include an MPDU frame 310 that includes a MAC delimiter 312 and aMAC header 314 prior to the accompanying MPDU 316, which comprises thedata portion (“payload” or “frame body”) of the MPDU frame 310. EachMPDU frame 310 may also include a frame check sequence (FCS) field 318for error detection (for example, the FCS field may include a cyclicredundancy check (CRC)) and padding bits 320. The MPDU 316 may carry oneor more MAC service data units (MSDUs) 316. For example, the MPDU 316may carry an aggregated MSDU (A-MSDU) 322 including multiple A-MSDUsubframes 324. Each A-MSDU subframe 324 contains a corresponding MSDU330 preceded by a subframe header 328 and in some cases followed bypadding bits 332.

Referring back to the MPDU frame 310, the MAC delimiter 312 may serve asa marker of the start of the associated MPDU 316 and indicate the lengthof the associated MPDU 316. The MAC header 314 may include multiplefields containing information that defines or indicates characteristicsor attributes of data encapsulated within the frame body 316. The MACheader 314 includes a duration field indicating a duration extendingfrom the end of the PPDU until at least the end of an acknowledgment(ACK) or Block ACK (BA) of the PPDU that is to be transmitted by thereceiving wireless communication device. The use of the duration fieldserves to reserve the wireless medium for the indicated duration, andenables the receiving device to establish its network allocation vector(NAV). The MAC header 314 also includes one or more fields indicatingaddresses for the data encapsulated within the frame body 316. Forexample, the MAC header 314 may include a combination of a sourceaddress, a transmitter address, a receiver address or a destinationaddress. The MAC header 314 may further include a frame control fieldcontaining control information. The frame control field may specify aframe type, for example, a data frame, a control frame, or a managementframe.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communication device400. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 canbe an example of a device for use in a STA such as one of the STAs 104described with reference to FIG. 1. In some implementations, thewireless communication device 400 can be an example of a device for usein an AP such as the AP 102 described with reference to FIG. 1. Thewireless communication device 400 is capable of transmitting (oroutputting for transmission) and receiving wireless communications (forexample, in the form of wireless packets). For example, the wirelesscommunication device can be configured to transmit and receive packetsin the form of physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol dataunits (PPDUs) and medium access control (MAC) protocol data units(MPDUs) conforming to an IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocolstandard, such as that defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification oramendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad,802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba and 802.11be.

The wireless communication device 400 can be, or can include, a chip,system on chip (SoC), chipset, package or device that includes one ormore modems 402, for example, a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 compliant) modem. Insome implementations, the one or more modems 402 (collectively “themodem 402”) additionally include a WWAN modem (for example, a 3GPP 4GLTE or 5G compliant modem). In some implementations, the wirelesscommunication device 400 also includes one or more radios 404(collectively “the radio 404”). In some implementations, the wirelesscommunication device 406 further includes one or more processors,processing blocks or processing elements 406 (collectively “theprocessor 406”) and one or more memory blocks or elements 408(collectively “the memory 408”).

The modem 402 can include an intelligent hardware block or device suchas, for example, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) amongother possibilities. The modem 402 is generally configured to implementa PHY layer. For example, the modem 402 is configured to modulatepackets and to output the modulated packets to the radio 404 fortransmission over the wireless medium. The modem 402 is similarlyconfigured to obtain modulated packets received by the radio 404 and todemodulate the packets to provide demodulated packets. In addition to amodulator and a demodulator, the modem 402 may further include digitalsignal processing (DSP) circuitry, automatic gain control (AGC), acoder, a decoder, a multiplexer and a demultiplexer. For example, whilein a transmission mode, data obtained from the processor 406 is providedto a coder, which encodes the data to provide encoded bits. The encodedbits are then mapped to points in a modulation constellation (using aselected MCS) to provide modulated symbols. The modulated symbols maythen be mapped to a number Nss of spatial streams or a number NsTs ofspace-time streams. The modulated symbols in the respective spatial orspace-time streams may then be multiplexed, transformed via an inversefast Fourier transform (IFFT) block, and subsequently provided to theDSP circuitry for Tx windowing and filtering. The digital signals maythen be provided to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resultantanalog signals may then be provided to a frequency upconverter, andultimately, the radio 404. In implementations involving beamforming, themodulated symbols in the respective spatial streams are precoded via asteering matrix prior to their provision to the IFFT block.

While in a reception mode, digital signals received from the radio 404are provided to the DSP circuitry, which is configured to acquire areceived signal, for example, by detecting the presence of the signaland estimating the initial timing and frequency offsets. The DSPcircuitry is further configured to digitally condition the digitalsignals, for example, using channel (narrowband) filtering, analogimpairment conditioning (such as correcting for UQ imbalance), andapplying digital gain to ultimately obtain a narrowband signal. Theoutput of the DSP circuitry may then be fed to the AGC, which isconfigured to use information extracted from the digital signals, forexample, in one or more received training fields, to determine anappropriate gain. The output of the DSP circuitry also is coupled withthe demodulator, which is configured to extract modulated symbols fromthe signal and, for example, compute the logarithm likelihood ratios(LLRs) for each bit position of each subcarrier in each spatial stream.The demodulator is coupled with the decoder, which may be configured toprocess the LLRs to provide decoded bits. The decoded bits from all ofthe spatial streams are then fed to the demultiplexer fordemultiplexing. The demultiplexed bits may then be descrambled andprovided to the MAC layer (the processor 406) for processing, evaluationor interpretation.

The radio 404 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF)transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) and at least one RF receiver (or“receiver chain”), which may be combined into one or more transceivers.For example, the RF transmitters and receivers may include various DSPcircuitry including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least onelow-noise amplifier (LNA), respectively. The RF transmitters andreceivers may, in turn, be coupled to one or more antennas. For example,in some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 caninclude, or be coupled with, multiple transmit antennas (each with acorresponding transmit chain) and multiple receive antennas (each with acorresponding receive chain). The symbols output from the modem 402 areprovided to the radio 404, which then transmits the symbols via thecoupled antennas. Similarly, symbols received via the antennas areobtained by the radio 404, which then provides the symbols to the modem402.

The processor 406 can include an intelligent hardware block or devicesuch as, for example, a processing core, a processing block, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) such as a field programmablegate array (FPGA), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. The processor 406 processes information receivedthrough the radio 404 and the modem 402, and processes information to beoutput through the modem 402 and the radio 404 for transmission throughthe wireless medium. For example, the processor 406 may implement acontrol plane and MAC layer configured to perform various operationsrelated to the generation and transmission of MPDUs, frames or packets.The MAC layer is configured to perform or facilitate the coding anddecoding of frames, spatial multiplexing, space-time block coding(STBC), beamforming, and OFDMA resource allocation, among otheroperations or techniques. In some implementations, the processor 406 maygenerally control the modem 402 to cause the modem to perform variousoperations described above.

The memory 404 can include tangible storage media such as random-accessmemory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or combinations thereof. Thememory 404 also can store non-transitory processor- orcomputer-executable software (SW) code containing instructions that,when executed by the processor 406, cause the processor to performvarious operations described herein for wireless communication,including the generation, transmission, reception and interpretation ofMPDUs, frames or packets. For example, various functions of componentsdisclosed herein, or various blocks or steps of a method, operation,process or algorithm disclosed herein, can be implemented as one or moremodules of one or more computer programs.

FIG. 5A shows a block diagram of an example AP 502. For example, the AP502 can be an example implementation of the AP 102 described withreference to FIG. 1. The AP 502 includes a wireless communication device(WCD) 510 (although the AP 502 may itself also be referred to generallyas a wireless communication device as used herein). For example, thewireless communication device 510 may be an example implementation ofthe wireless communication device 400 described with reference to FIG.4. The AP 502 also includes multiple antennas 520 coupled with thewireless communication device 510 to transmit and receive wirelesscommunications. In some implementations, the AP 502 additionallyincludes an application processor 530 coupled with the wirelesscommunication device 510, and a memory 540 coupled with the applicationprocessor 530. The AP 502 further includes at least one external networkinterface 550 that enables the AP 502 to communicate with a core networkor backhaul network to gain access to external networks including theInternet. For example, the external network interface 550 may includeone or both of a wired (for example, Ethernet) network interface and awireless network interface (such as a WWAN interface). Ones of theaforementioned components can communicate with other ones of thecomponents directly or indirectly, over at least one bus. The AP 502further includes a housing that encompasses the wireless communicationdevice 510, the application processor 530, the memory 540, and at leastportions of the antennas 520 and external network interface 550.

FIG. 5B shows a block diagram of an example STA 504. For example, theSTA 504 can be an example implementation of the STA 104 described withreference to FIG. 1. The STA 504 includes a wireless communicationdevice 515 (although the STA 504 may itself also be referred togenerally as a wireless communication device as used herein). Forexample, the wireless communication device 515 may be an exampleimplementation of the wireless communication device 400 described withreference to FIG. 4. The STA 504 also includes one or more antennas 525coupled with the wireless communication device 515 to transmit andreceive wireless communications. The STA 504 additionally includes anapplication processor 535 coupled with the wireless communication device515, and a memory 545 coupled with the application processor 535. Insome implementations, the STA 504 further includes a user interface (UI)555 (such as a touchscreen or keypad) and a display 565, which may beintegrated with the UI 555 to form a touchscreen display. In someimplementations, the STA 504 may further include one or more sensors 575such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers,temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors. Ones of theaforementioned components can communicate with other ones of thecomponents directly or indirectly, over at least one bus. The STA 504further includes a housing that encompasses the wireless communicationdevice 515, the application processor 535, the memory 545, and at leastportions of the antennas 525, UI 555, and display 565.

As described above, new WLAN communication protocols are being developedto enable enhanced WLAN communication features. Such enhanced featuresinclude, among other examples, increases in bandwidth (up to 320 MHz)and number of spatial streams (up to 16 spatial streams), as well assupport for multiple-resource unit (M-RU) allocations. As new wirelesscommunication protocols enable enhanced features, new preamble designsare needed support signaling regarding features and resourceallocations. Signaling refers to control fields or information that canbe used by a wireless communication device to interpret another field orportion of a packet. For some wireless communication techniques, such asOFDMA, a wireless channel may utilize multiple subchannels that can bedivided or grouped in a transmission to form different resource units(RUs). The signaling can indicate which RUs include data for aparticular recipient. Other types of signaling include indicatorsregarding which subchannels carry further signaling or which subchannelsare punctured. Still further, some signaling can indicate the lengths oravailability of one or more fields or subfields in the data packet.

FIG. 6 shows an example PPDU 600 usable for wireless communicationbetween an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations.The PPDU 600 includes a PHY preamble including a first portion 602 and asecond portion 604. The PPDU 600 may further include a PHY payload 606after the preamble, for example, in the form of a PSDU carrying a DATAfield 626. In some implementations, the PPDU 600 may be formatted as anon-legacy or Extremely High Throughput (EHT) PPDU.

The first portion 602 of the PHY preamble includes L-STF 608, L-LTF 610,and L-SIG 612. The second portion 604 of the PHY preamble includes arepeated legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 614, a universal signal field(U-SIG) 616, a non-legacy short training field (EHT-STF) 622, and anumber of non-legacy long training fields (EHT-LTFs) 624. In someimplementations, the second portion 604 may further include a non-legacysignal field (EHT-SIG) 618. In the IEEE 802.11be amendment, and futuregenerations of the IEEE 802.11 standard, new fields may be used to carrysignaling information. For example, at least some of the new fields andsignaling information may be included in U-SIG 616. Additionally, newfields and signaling information may be included in EHT-SIG 618 (or mayoverflow from U-SIG 616 into EHT-SIG 618).

In some implementations, U-SIG 616 may include signaling regarding typesor formats of additional signal fields that may follow U-SIG 616. Suchsignaling may be carried in one or more version-independent fields 632and one or more version-dependent fields 634. The version-independentfields 632 may include, for example, a version identifier subfieldcarrying information indicating a version of the associated wirelesscommunication protocol (starting from the IEEE 802.11be amendment andbeyond) and a PPDU bandwidth subfield carrying information indicating abandwidth associated with the PPDU 600 (such as from 20 MHz to 320 MHz).The version-dependent fields 634 may carry information used forinterpreting other fields of U-SIG 616 or EHT-SIG 618. Exampleversion-dependent fields 634 include a PPDU format and EHT-SIGcompression subfield carrying information indicating a format of thePPDU 600 and one or more spatial reuse subfields carrying informationindicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannelsof the wireless channel over which the PPDU 600 is transmitted.

In some implementations, the U-SIG 616 also may include a number ofreserved bits. Reserved bits represent unused bits that are reserved forfuture implementations of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In some aspects, oneor more reserved bits in an earlier version or release of the IEEE802.11 standard may be repurposed (to carry information) in a laterversion or release. For example, some reserved bits in U-SIG 616 may berepurposed, in later versions or releases of the IEEE 802.11 standard,to expand a range of values that can be represented by existing fieldsin an earlier version or release. Some other reserved bits in U-SIG 616may be repurposed, in later versions or releases of the IEEE 802.11standard, to convey information that is unrelated to any informationconveyed in the earlier version or release (or remains unused in thelater version or release).

In some aspects, EHT-SIG 618 may include a common field 636. The commonfield 636 may include U-SIG overflow representing one or more bits orfields overflowed from U-SIG 616 or an RU allocation subfield carryinginformation indicating an allocation of RUs for intended recipients ofthe PPDU 600. In some other aspects, EHT-SIG 618 also may include a userspecific field 638. The user specific field 638 may include a number ofuser fields carrying per-user information for intended recipients of thePPDU 600. As described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 7A-7C,the contents and availability of EHT-SIG 618 may depend on the format ofthe PPDU 600. For example, in single-user (SU) and multi-user (MU) PPDUformats, the second portion 604 of the PPDU 600 may include the EHT-SIG618. On the other hand, EHT-SIG 618 may be absent or omitted in thetrigger-based (TB) PPDU format. Table 1, below, shows a more detailedrepresentation of the various fields and subfields of the PPDU 600 basedon the TB PPDU format.

TABLE 1 Field Category Subfield # Bits U-SIG Version Independent VersionIdentifier 3 PPDU BW 3 UL/DL 1 BSS Color 6 TXOP 7 Reserved 6 VersionDependent PPDU Format & EHT-SIG 2 Compression Reserved 1 Spatial Reuse 14 Spatial Reuse 2 4 Reserved 5 CRC & Tail CRC in U-SIG 4 Tail in U-SIG 6Total # Bits in U-SIG 52

FIG. 7A shows an example frame structure for a TB PPDU 700 according tosome implementations. In some implementations, the TB PPDU 700 may beone example of the PPDU 600 of FIG. 6. For simplicity, only the pre-EHTportion of the TB PPDU 700 (corresponding to the portion 650 of PPDU600) is shown in FIG. 7A. The TB PPDU 700 includes an L-STF 701, anL-LTF 702, an L-SIG 703, an RL-SIG 704, and a U-SIG 705 which maycorrespond to L-STF 608, L-LTF 610, L-SIG 612, RL-SIG 614, and U-SIG616, respectively, of PPDU 600. In the example TB PPDU format, the TBPPDU 700 may not include an EHT-SIG. As a result, the TB PPDU 700 maynot include any U-SIG overflow, RU allocation information, or otheruser-specific information (such as provided in the user specific field638 of FIG. 6).

FIG. 7B shows an example frame structure for an SU PPDU 710 according tosome implementations. In some implementations, the SU PPDU 710 may beone example of the PPDU 600 of FIG. 6. For simplicity, only the pre-EHTportion of the SU PPDU 710 (corresponding to the portion 650 of PPDU600) is shown in FIG. 7B. The SU PPDU 710 includes an L-STF 711, anL-LTF 712, an L-SIG 713, an RL-SIG 714, a U-SIG 715, and an EHT-SIG 716which may correspond to L-STF 608, L-LTF 610, L-SIG 612, RL-SIG 614,U-SIG 616, and EHT-SIG 616, respectively, of PPDU 600. In the example SUPPDU format, EHT-SIG 716 may include only bits or fields 717 overflowedfrom U-SIG 715. More specifically, the SU PPDU 710 may not include anyRU allocation information, or other user-specific information (such asprovided in the user specific field 638 of FIG. 6).

FIG. 7C shows an example frame structure for an MU PPDU 720 according tosome implementations. In some implementations, the MU PPDU 720 may beone example of the PPDU 600 of FIG. 6. For simplicity, only the pre-EHTportion of the MU PPDU 720 (corresponding to the portion 650 of PPDU600) is shown in FIG. 7C. The MU PPDU 720 includes an L-STF 721, anL-LTF 722, an L-SIG 723, an RL-SIG 724, a U-SIG 725, and an EHT-SIG 726which may correspond to L-STF 608, L-LTF 610, L-SIG 612, RL-SIG 614,U-SIG 616, and EHT-SIG 616, respectively, of PPDU 600. In the example MUPPDU format, EHT-SIG 726 may include a common field 727 and a userspecific field 728. Thus, the MU PPDU 720 may include per-userinformation (such as in the user specific field 728) for one or moreintended recipients of the MU PPDU 720.

FIG. 8 shows an example frame structure of a non-legacy PPDU 800allocated over multiple subchannels of a wireless channel according tosome implementations. In some implementations, the EHT PPDU 800 may beone example of the PPDU 600 of FIG. 6. In the example of FIG. 8, the EHTPPDU 800 is shown to include an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG, an RL-SIG, aU-SIG, and an EHT-SIG signaled or transmitted on multiple 20 MHzsubchannels (or frequency segments) of a 320 MHz wireless channel. Insome other implementations, the wireless channel may encompass any rangeof frequencies including, but not limited to, a 160 MHz frequencyspectrum, a 240 MHz frequency spectrum, a 480 MHz frequency spectrum, ora 640 MHz frequency spectrum. As shown in FIG. 8, the 320 MHz frequencyspectrum includes sixteen 20 MHz subchannels indexed from lowest tohighest (such as from the 1^(st) to the 16^(th)).

In the example of FIG. 8, L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, and RL-SIG are duplicatedor repeated in each 20 MHz subchannel spanning the entirety of the 320MHz frequency spectrum. In some implementations, U-SIG may be duplicatedor repeated in each 20 MHz subchannel of a respective 80 MHz segment ofthe wireless channel. For example, the first four subchannels (1^(st)through 4^(th)) may share the same U-SIG fields and values. The nextfour subchannels (5^(th) through 8^(th)) may share the same U-SIG fieldsand values, which may be different than the U-SIG fields or values ofthe previous four subchannels. The next four subchannels (9^(th) through12^(th)) may share the same U-SIG fields and values, which in turn maybe different than the U-SIG fields or values in any of the previouseight subchannels. The next four subchannels (13^(th) through 16^(th))may share the same U-SIG fields and values, which in turn may bedifferent than the U-SIG fields or values in any of the previous twelvesubchannels. In other words, the U-SIG fields or values may change every80 MHz. This may allow for greater parallelization of U-SIG informationacross the various subchannels.

In some implementations, EHT-SIG may be signaled on a number of contentchannels. Each content channel may be defined by a particular groupingof subchannels. For example, a first content channel may carry thesignaling information for all odd-numbered subchannels (such as the1^(st), 3^(rd), 5^(th), 7^(th), 9^(th), 11^(th), 13^(th), and 15^(th) 20MHz subchannels) and a second content channel may carry the signalinginformation for all even-numbered subchannels (such as the 2^(nd),4^(th), 6^(th), 8^(th), 10^(th), 12^(th), 14^(th), and 16^(th) 20 MHzsubchannels). In some implementations, EHT-SIG may be duplicated orrepeated per content channel. For example, the (odd-numbered)subchannels associated with the first content channel may share the sameEHT-SIG fields and values. The (even-numbered) subchannels associatedwith the second content channel may share the same EHT-SIG fields andvalues, which may be different than the EHT-SIG fields or values of thefirst content channel.

As described above, existing versions of the IEEE 802.11 standardsupport trigger-based uplink communications. In particular, the IEEE802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11 standard defines a trigger frameformat which can be used to solicit the transmission of TB PPDUs fromone or more STAs. The trigger frame allocates resources for thetransmission of the TB PPDUs and indicates how the TB PPDUs are to beconfigured for transmission. As new WLAN communication protocols enableenhanced features, new trigger frame formats are needed to support thenew features in TB PPDUs. For example, some fields in the PHY preamble(such as U-SIG) of the non-legacy PPDU format are configured per 20 MHzsubchannel. In some aspects, U-SIG may be further duplicated on multiple20 MHz subchannels (such as described with reference to FIG. 8). As aresult, all wireless communication devices transmitting PPDUsconcurrently on the same (or overlapping) 20 MHz subchannels musttransmit identical information in the U-SIG of their respective PPDUswithin such 20 MHz subchannels. Accordingly, new trigger frame designsare needed to configure and solicit the transmission of non-legacy TBPPDUs such as described, for example, with reference to FIGS. 6-8.

Various aspects relate generally to trigger-based communications thatsupport new wireless communication protocols, and more particularly, totrigger frame designs that support non-legacy TB PPDU formats. As usedherein, the term “non-legacy” may refer to PPDU formats andcommunication protocols conforming to the IEEE 802.11be amendment, andfuture generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In contrast, the term“legacy” may be used herein to refer to PPDU formats and communicationprotocols conforming to the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11standard. In some aspects, a trigger frame may carry information to beincluded in a PHY preamble of a TB PPDU solicited by the trigger frame(referred to herein as “preamble information”). For example, thepreamble information may indicate values of one or more subfields of aU-SIG associated with the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In some aspects,the preamble information may be carried in a special user informationfield of the trigger frame. For example, the special user informationfield may be identified by a special AID value that is reserved in thelegacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard. The special AID value may bedifferent than any AID values assigned to wireless communication devicesin a BSS associated with the TB PPDU.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the followingpotential advantages. By soliciting transmission of non-legacy TB PPDUs,the trigger frame designs of the present disclosure may support gains indata throughput achievable in accordance with the IEEE 802.11beamendment, and future generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard. Asdescribed above, a wireless communication device transmitting anon-legacy TB PPDU needs ensure that one or more fields of the PHYpreamble (such as U-SIG) of the TB PPDU are consistent with respectivefields of other PPDUs concurrently transmitted on the same (oroverlapping) 20 MHz subchannels. By including preamble information in atrigger frame, aspects of the present disclosure may enable thereceiving device to configure the U-SIG of the solicited TB PPDU to beconsistent with (or identical to) the U-SIG of other PPDUs concurrentlytransmitted on the same 20 MHz subchannels. By providing the preambleinformation in a special user information field (associated with areserved AID value in the legacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard),the trigger frame designs of the present disclosure may be compatiblewith legacy and non-legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard.

FIG. 9 shows an example trigger frame 900 usable for communicationsbetween an AP and a number of STAs according to some implementations. Insome implementations, the trigger frame 900 may be used to solicit TBPPDUs (such as legacy and non-legacy TB PPDUs) from one or morenon-legacy STAs. For example, non-legacy TB PPDUs may be formattedaccording to the format of the TB PPDU 700 of FIG. 7A. In some otherimplementations, the trigger frame 900 may be used to solicit TB PPDUsfrom one or more legacy STAs. In other words, the trigger frame 900 maysupport backwards compatibility with the legacy trigger frame format(such as defined by the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11standards).

The trigger frame 900 includes a MAC header 910, a common informationfield 920, a user information list 930, zero or more padding bits 940,and an FCS 950. The MAC header 910 includes a frame control field, aduration field, a receiver address (RA) field, and a transmitter address(TA) field. The common information field 920 and user information list930 carry configuration information which may be used by a receivingdevice to configure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to receivingthe trigger frame 900. More specifically, the user information list 930may include one or more user information fields each carrying per-userinformation for a respective user. In contrast, the common informationfield 920 may carry information that is common to all recipients of thetrigger frame 900 (such as any users associated with the user fields inthe user information list 930).

In some implementations, the user information list 930 may include aspecial user information field 932. In some aspects, the special userinformation field 932 may be the first user information field in aseries of user information fields in the user information list 930. Thespecial user information field 932 may carry preamble information to beincluded in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, areceiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHYpreamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in thespecial user information field 932. In some implementations, thepreamble information may include U-SIG content 938. For example, theU-SIG content 938 may indicate values for one or more subfields of U-SIGin the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. In some implementations, the specialuser information field 932 may be associated with a special AID12 value936. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned toany STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 900.More specifically, non-legacy receiving devices may determine that thespecial user information field 932 carries U-SIG content 938 based onthe special AID value 936.

FIG. 10 shows an example user information field 1000 for a trigger frameformatted in accordance with the legacy trigger frame format (such asdefined by the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11 standard).With reference for example to FIG. 9, the user information field 1000may be one example of a user information field that can be included inthe user information list 930. Each user information field is associatedwith a respective AID value. The AID value may be a 12-bit value carriedin the AID12 subfield (in bit positions B0˜B11) of a user informationfield. In some aspects, the AID value may uniquely identify a particularSTA (or user) in a BSS. For example, each STA may be assigned a uniqueAID value upon associating with the BSS. However, aspects of the presentdisclosure recognize that several values associated with the AID12subfield are reserved (such as 2008-2044 and 2047-4094) in the legacytrigger frame format. Thus, in some implementations, the special userinformation field 932 may be assigned one or more of the reserved valuesassociated with the AID12 subfield. By using a reserved value for itsAID12 subfield, the special user information field 932 may be ignored bylegacy STAs and interpreted by non-legacy STAs.

As shown in FIG. 10, each user information field is 40 bits in length.When the AID12 subfield is set to a special AID value, the remaining 28bits of the user information field (in bit positions B12˜B39) may berepurposed to carry preamble information (such as U-SIG content 938). Insome implementations, the user information list 930 may include one ormore additional special user information fields 934, for example, tocarry additional preamble information or other information to besignaled to the receiving device. In some implementations, the specialuser information fields 932 and 934 may be associated with differentreleases or versions of a physical layer wireless communicationprotocol. In other words, the format or contents of special userinformation field 932 may differ from the format or contents of specialuser information field 934. Thus, the trigger frame 900 may carrypreamble information for multiple releases or versions of the IEEE802.11 standard. In some implementations, the different releases orversions may be associated with different special AID values. In someother implementations, all special user information fields may beassociated with the same special AID value. In such implementations, thedifferent releases or versions may be indicated by other information inthe special user information field.

FIG. 11A shows an example special user information field 1100 accordingto some implementations. In some implementations, the special userinformation field 1100 may be one example of the special userinformation field 932 of FIG. 9. Accordingly, the special userinformation field 1100 may be configured to carry preamble informationfor a TB PPDU. The special user information field 1100 includes an AID12subfield 1101 and a number of U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105. In someimplementations, the AID12 subfield 1101 may be assigned a special AIDvalue (such as one of the reserved AID values in FIG. 10). As describedwith reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the special AID value is not assignedto any STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the underlying triggerframe. In some implementations, the U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105may carry preamble information to be included in the U-SIG of the TBPPDU solicited by the trigger frame.

In the example of FIG. 11A, the U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105include a PPDU BW subfield 1102, a first spatial reuse (spatial reuse 1)subfield 1103, a second spatial reuse (spatial reuse 2) subfield 1104,and a reserved information subfield 1105. With reference for example toTable 1, the PPDU BW subfield 1102, first spatial reuse subfield 1103,and second spatial reuse subfield 1104 may carry information to beincluded in the PPDU BW subfield, spatial reuse 1 subfield, and spatialreuse 2 subfield, respectively, of the U-SIG. For example, the PPDU BWsubfield 1102 may carry information indicating a bandwidth of thewireless channel over which the TB PPDU is to be transmitted, and thespatial reuse subfields 1103 and 1104 may carry information indicatingwhether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of thewireless channel. In some implementations, the reserved informationsubfield 1105 may carry information indicating a number (and location)of reserved bits to be included in U-SIG.

In some implementations, the special user information field 1100 mayfurther include a version identifier subfield 1106. With reference forexample to Table 1, the version identifier subfield 1106 may carryinformation to be included in the version identifier subfield of U-SIG.For example, the version identifier subfield 1106 may carry informationindicating version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the TB PPDU. In some other implementations, the versioninformation may be associated with the value of the AID12 subfield 1101.For example, as described with reference to FIG. 9, different versionsof the IEEE 802.11 standard may be associated with different special AIDvalues. In such implementations, the version identifier subfield 1106may be absent or omitted from the special user information field 1100.For example, a receiving device may determine the version information(that would otherwise be carried in the version identifier subfield1106) based on the value of the AID12 subfield 1101.

In some implementations, when generating the PHY preamble of the TBPPDU, a receiving device may copy the information from the U-SIG contentsubfields 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, or 1106, into respective subfields ofU-SIG. In other words, the values of each of the subfields 1102-1106 maybe identical to the values to be conveyed by the respective subfields ofU-SIG. With reference for example to Table 1, the PPDU BW subfield 1102may carry 3 bits of information, each of the spatial reuse subfields1103 and 1104 may carry 4 bits of information, the reserved informationsubfield 1105 may carry up to 12 bits of information, and the versionidentifier subfield 1106 may carry 3 bits of information. In suchimplementations, a total of 26 bits are needed to convey the informationin each of the U-SIG content subfields 1102-1106 (or a total of 23 bitsfor implementations in which the version identifier subfield 1106 isomitted), which is less than the 28 available bits in the special userinformation field 1100.

Aspects of the present disclosure recognize that the informationassociated one or more subfields of U-SIG can be derived locally by thereceiving device. With reference for example to Table 1, the values ofthe UL/DL subfield, the BSS color subfield, the TXOP subfield, and thePPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield can be set by the receivingdevice based on known parameters associated with the TB PPDU. Further,the CRC and tail bits are derived based on the contents of the TB PPDU.Thus, in some implementations, a trigger frame may not carry preambleinformation that can be derived locally by the receiving device. Morespecifically, in some aspects, the values for the UL/DL subfield, theBSS color subfield, the TXOP subfield, and PPDU format and EHT-SIGcompression subfield may be omitted from the trigger frame.

Aspects of the present disclosure also recognize that the potential forerrors is greater when deriving the preamble information locallycompared to copying the preamble information directly from the triggerframe. Thus, in some other implementations, a trigger frame may carrythe preamble information to be included in each subfield of U-SIG(including values for subfields that can otherwise be derived locally bythe receiving device). With reference for example to Table 1, a total of16 bits are needed to convey the values of the UL/DL subfield, the BSScolor subfield, the TXOP subfield, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIGcompression subfield, which exceeds the number of available bitsremaining in the special user information field 1100. Thus, in someaspects, the preamble information associated with one or more of thesesubfields may be carried in an additional special user informationfield.

FIG. 11B shows another example special user information field 1110according to some implementations. In some implementations, the specialuser information field 1110 may be one example of the special userinformation field 932 of FIG. 9. Accordingly, the special userinformation field 1110 may be configured to carry preamble informationfor a TB PPDU. The special user information field 1110 includes an AID12subfield 1111 and a number of U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115. In someimplementations, the AID12 subfield 1111 may be assigned a special AIDvalue (such as one of the reserved AID values in FIG. 10). As describedwith reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the special AID value is not assignedto any STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the underlying triggerframe. In some implementations, the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115may carry preamble information to be included in the U-SIG of the TBPPDU solicited by the trigger frame.

In the example of FIG. 11B, the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115include a UL/DL subfield 1112, a BSS color subfield 1113, a TXOPsubfield 1114, and a PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115.With reference for example to Table 1, the UL/DL subfield 1112, BSScolor subfield 1113, TXOP subfield 1114, and PPDU format and EHT-SIGcompression subfield 1115 may carry information to be included in theUL/DL subfield, BSS color subfield, TXOP subfield, and PPDU format andEHT-SIG compression subfield, respectively, of the U-SIG. For example,the UL/DL subfield 1112 may carry information indicating whether the TBPPDU is transmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, the BSScolor subfield 1113 may carry information indicating a BSS color (whichidentifies the BSS) associated with the TB PPDU, the TXOP subfield 114may carry information indicating a TXOP duration associated with the TBPPDU, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115 maycarry information indicating a format of the PPDU.

In some implementations, when generating the PHY preamble of the TBPPDU, a receiving device may copy the information from the U-SIG contentsubfields 1112-1115 into respective subfields of U-SIG. In other words,the values of each of the subfields 1112-1115 may be identical to thevalues to be conveyed by the respective subfields of U-SIG. Withreference for example to Table 1, the UL/DL subfield 1112 may carry 1bit of information, the BSS color subfield 1113 may carry 6 bits ofinformation, the TXOP subfield 114 may carry 7 bits of information, andthe PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115 may carry 2 bitsof information. In such implementations, a total of 16 bits are neededto convey the information in each of the U-SIG content subfields1112-1115, which is substantially less than the 28 available bits in thespecial user information field 1110.

In some implementations, one or more of the subfields 1112-1115 may beadded to the U-SIG content subfields of the special user informationfield 1100 of FIG. 11A. Similarly, one or more of the subfields1102-1106 may be added to the U-SIG content subfields of the specialuser information field 1110. For example, this may free up additionalunused bits in one of the special user information fields 1100 or 1110.In some implementations, the unused bits in one or more of the specialuser information fields 1100 or 1110 may be repurposed to carryadditional information that may be relevant to the transmission of theTB PPDU or other communications involving the receiving device. In someother implementations, such additional information may be carried in oneor more additional special user information fields.

In some implementations, a wireless channel may be punctured to excludeone or more subchannels from the transmission of a PPDU, for example, toavoid interference (such as from an incumbent system transmission) onthe punctured subchannels. More specifically, channel puncturing may bespecified at a 20 MHz granularity. With reference for example to FIG. 8,channel puncturing information may indicate which (if any) of the1^(st), 2^(nd), 3^(rd), 4^(th), 5^(th), 6^(th), 7^(th), 8^(th), 9^(th),10^(th), 11^(th), 12^(th), 13^(th), 14^(th), 15^(th), or 16^(th) 20 MHzsubchannels of a 320 MHz wireless channel is punctured. In someimplementations, a trigger frame may further carry channel puncturinginformation, for example, to support such punctured channel indications.In some aspects, the channel puncturing information may be carried in aspecial user information field that also includes one or more U-SIGcontent subfields. In some other aspects, the channel puncturinginformation may be carried in a separate special user information fieldthat does not carry preamble information.

FIG. 11C shows another example special user information field 1120according to some implementations. In some implementations, the specialuser information field 1120 may be one example of the special userinformation field 932 of FIG. 9. However, unlike the special userinformation fields 1100 and 1110 of FIGS. 11A and 11B, respectively, thespecial user information field 1120 may not be configured to carrypreamble information for a TB PPDU. The special user information field1120 includes an AID12 subfield 1121 and a channel puncturing subfield1122. In some implementations, the AID12 subfield 1121 may be assigned aspecial AID value (such as one of the reserved AID values in FIG. 10).As described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the special AID value isnot assigned to any STAs belonging to the BSS associated with theunderlying trigger frame.

The channel puncturing subfield 1122 may carry channel puncturinginformation associated with the wireless channel on which a TB PPDU(solicited by the trigger frame) is to be transmitted. In someimplementations, the channel puncturing information may be representedby a 16-bit bitmap. For example, each bit of the 16-bit bitmap may beassociated with a respective 20 MHz subchannel of a 320 MHz wirelesschannel. More specifically, the value of each bit of the 16-bit bitmapmay indicate whether puncturing is performed on the respective 20 MHzsubchannel. With reference for example to FIG. 8, the 16-bit bitmap mayindicate which (if any) of the 1^(st), 2^(nd), 3^(rd), 4^(th), 5^(th),6^(th), 7^(th), 8^(th), 9^(th), 10^(th), 11^(th), 12^(th), 13^(th),14^(th), 15^(th), or 16^(th) 20 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz wirelesschannel is punctured.

In some implementations, the channel puncturing information may becondensed or compressed to reduce overhead. In some otherimplementations, the channel puncturing information may be representedby an 8-bit bitmap plus a resolution bit. For example, the value of eachbit of the 8-bit bitmap may indicate whether puncturing is performed ona respective subchannel of the wireless channel. The value of theresolution bit may indicate whether each bit of the 8-bit bitmap isassociated with a respective 20 MHz subchannel (such as for an 80 MHzwireless channel or segment) or a respective 40 MHz subchannel (such asfor a 320 MHz wireless channel).

Aspects of the present disclosure further recognize that, by reducingthe size of the bitmap, the channel puncturing information may becarried in other fields of the trigger frame such as, for example, thecommon information field. FIG. 12 shows an example common informationfield 1200 for a trigger frame formatted in accordance with the legacytrigger frame format (such as defined by the IEEE 802.11ax amendment ofthe IEEE 802.11 standard). With reference for example to FIG. 9, thecommon field 1200 may be one example of the common field 920. As shownin FIG. 12, the common field 1200 includes a total of 10 reserved bits(in bit positions B54˜B63). In some implementations, 9 of these reservedbits may be repurposed to carry channel puncturing information (such asan 8-bit bitmap plus a resolution bit).

FIG. 13 shows another example trigger frame 1300 usable forcommunications between an AP and a number of STAs according to someimplementations. In some implementations, the trigger frame 1300 may beone example of the trigger frame 900 of FIG. 9. In some aspects, thetrigger frame 1300 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs (such as legacy ornon-legacy TB PPDUs) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some otheraspects, the trigger frame 1300 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs from oneor more legacy STAs.

The trigger frame 1300 includes a MAC header 1310, a common informationfield 1320, a user information list 1330, zero or more padding bits1340, and an FCS 1350. The MAC header 1310 includes a frame controlfield, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The commoninformation field 1320 and user information list 1330 carryconfiguration information which may be used by a receiving device toconfigure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to receiving thetrigger frame 1300. More specifically, the user information list 1330may include one or more user information fields each carrying per-userinformation for a respective user. In contrast, the common informationfield 1320 may carry information that is common to all recipients of thetrigger frame 1300 (such as any users associated with the user fields inthe user information list 1330).

In some implementations, the common information field 1320 may carrychannel puncturing information represented by a resolution bit 1322 anda bitmap 1324. The bitmap 1324 may indicate whether puncturing isperformed on one or more subchannels of a wireless channel on which theTB PPDU is to be transmitted. In some implementations, the bitmap 1324may be an 8-bit bitmap. As described above, the value of each bit of the8-bit bitmap may indicate whether puncturing is performed on arespective subchannel of the wireless channel. The value of theresolution bit 1322 may indicate whether each bit of the 8-bit bitmap isassociated with a respective 20 MHz subchannel or a respective 40 MHzsubchannel. In some implementations, the resolution bit 1322 and bitmap1324 may represent 9 reserved bits in the common information fieldassociated with the legacy trigger frame format (such as any of thereserved bits in bit positions B54˜B63 of the common information field1200).

In some implementations, the user information list 1330 may include oneor more special user information fields 1332 or 1334. In someimplementations, the special user information fields 1332 and 1334 maybe examples of the special user information fields 932 and 934,respectively, of FIG. 9. For example, at least one of the special userinformation field 1332 or 1334 may be configured to carry preambleinformation to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. Morespecifically, a receiving device may determine how to generate orconfigure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preambleinformation carried in the special user information fields 1332 or 1334.As described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, each of the special userinformation field 1332 and 1334 may be associated with a special AID12value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned toany STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1300.

By repurposing reserved bits in the common information field 1320 tocarry channel puncturing information, aspects of the present disclosuremay reduce the overhead associated with the trigger frame 1300. Withreference for example to FIGS. 11A-11C, the user information list 1330may include at least one less special user information field that wouldotherwise be used to carry the channel puncturing information (such asthe special user information field 1120 of FIG. 11C). In some otherimplementations, the common information field of a trigger frame may beconfigured to carry enhanced signaling associated with one or more userinformation fields of a user information list. In some aspects, theenhanced signaling may indicate a presence or availability of specialuser information fields in the user information list (such as describedwith reference to FIG. 14). In some other aspects, the enhancedsignaling may indicate a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with each user information field inthe user information list (such as described with reference to FIG. 15).

FIG. 14 shows another example trigger frame 1400 usable forcommunications between an AP and a number of STAs according to someimplementations. In some implementations, the trigger frame 1400 may beone example of the trigger frame 900 of FIG. 9. In some aspects, thetrigger frame 1400 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs (such as legacy ornon-legacy TB PPDUs) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some otheraspects, the trigger frame 1400 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs from oneor more legacy STAs.

The trigger frame 1400 includes a MAC header 1410, a common informationfield 1420, a user information list 1430, zero or more padding bits1440, and an FCS 1450. The MAC header 1410 includes a frame controlfield, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The commoninformation field 1420 and user information list 1430 carryconfiguration information which may be used by a receiving device toconfigure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to receiving thetrigger frame 1400. More specifically, the user information list 1430may include one or more user information fields each carrying per-userinformation for a respective user. In contrast, the common informationfield 1420 may carry information that is common to all recipients of thetrigger frame 1400 (such as any users associated with the user fields inthe user information list 1430).

In some implementations, the common information field 1420 may carrytrigger format information 1422 indicating a format of the trigger frame1400. More specifically, The trigger format information 1422 may includeone or more bits indicating whether the trigger frame 1400 is configuredin accordance with a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy triggerframe format. In some implementations, the trigger format information1422 may replace one or more reserved bits in the common informationfield associated with the legacy trigger frame format (such as any ofthe reserved bits in bit positions B54˜B63 of the common informationfield 1200).

In some aspects, when the trigger format information 1422 indicates thelegacy trigger frame format, the fields and subfields of the triggerframe 1400 may be identical to the fields and subfields of the triggerframe format defined by the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11standard. For example, in such configurations, the user information list1430 may not include any special user information fields. In some otheraspects, when the trigger format information 1422 indicates thenon-legacy trigger frame format, the trigger frame 1400 may include oneor more new (or modified) fields or subfields that support enhanced WLANcommunication features such as provided by the IEEE 802.11be amendment,and future generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, insuch configurations, the user information list 1430 may include one ormore special user information fields.

In some implementations, the user information list 1430 may include oneor more special user information fields 1432 or 1434. In someimplementations, the special user information fields 1432 and 1434 maybe examples of the special user information fields 932 and 934,respectively, of FIG. 9. For example, at least one of the special userinformation field 1432 or 1434 may be configured to carry preambleinformation to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. Morespecifically, a receiving device may determine how to generate orconfigure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preambleinformation carried in the special user information fields 1432 or 1434.As described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, each of the special userinformation field 1432 and 1434 may be associated with a special AID12value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned toany STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1400.

In some implementations, a receiving device that receives the triggerframe 1400 may determine, based on the trigger format information 1422whether to look for special user information fields 1432 or 1434 in theuser information list 1430. For example, if the trigger formatinformation 1422 indicates the non-legacy trigger frame format, thereceiving device may compare the AID value associated with each userinformation field in the user information list 1430 with one or morespecial AID values to identify special user information fields. On theother hand, if the trigger format information 1422 indicates the legacytrigger frame format, the receiving device does not need to compare thespecial AID values to the AID values associated with each userinformation field in the user information list 1430, which may reducethe processing overhead of the receiving device.

FIG. 15 shows another example trigger frame 1500 usable forcommunications between an AP and a number of STAs according to someimplementations. In some implementations, the trigger frame 1500 may beone example of the trigger frame 900 of FIG. 9. In some aspects, thetrigger frame 1500 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs (such as legacy ornon-legacy TB PPDUs) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some otheraspects, the trigger frame 1500 may be used to solicit TB PPDUs from oneor more legacy STAs.

The trigger frame 1500 includes a MAC header 1510, a common informationfield 1520, a user information list 1530, zero or more padding bits1540, and an FCS 1550. The MAC header 1510 includes a frame controlfield, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The commoninformation field 1520 and user information list 1530 carryconfiguration information which may be used by a receiving device toconfigure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to receiving thetrigger frame 1500. More specifically, the user information list 1530may include one or more user information fields each carrying per-userinformation for a respective user. In contrast, the common informationfield 1520 may carry information that is common to all recipients of thetrigger frame 1500 (such as any users associated with the user fields inthe user information list 1530).

In some implementations, the common information field 1520 may includean enhanced (HE/EHT) format indication 1522 indicating a version of aphysical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the userinformation list 1530. More specifically, the enhanced format indication1522 may include one or more bits indicating whether the userinformation fields in the user information list 1530 are associated witha legacy PPDU format or a non-legacy PPDU format. In someimplementations, the enhanced format indication 1522 may replace one ormore reserved bits in the common information field associated with thelegacy trigger frame format (such as any of the reserved bits in bitpositions B54˜B63 of the common information field 1200).

In some aspects, when the enhanced format indication 1522 indicates thelegacy PPDU format, each user information field of the user informationlist 1530 may be associated with the legacy PPDU format. Morespecifically, in such configurations, the trigger frame 1500 may solicitlegacy TB PPDUs to be transmitted by each user associated with arespective user information field of the user information list 1530. Insome other aspects, when the enhanced format indication 1522 indicatesthe non-legacy PPDU format, each user information field of the userinformation list 1530 may be associated with the non-legacy PPDU format.More specifically, in such configurations, the trigger frame 1500 maysolicit non-legacy TB PPDUs to be transmitted by each user associatedwith a respective user information field of the user information list1530.

In some implementations, the user information list 1530 may include oneor more special user information fields 1532 or 1534. In someimplementations, the special user information fields 1532 and 1534 maybe examples of the special user information fields 932 and 934,respectively, of FIG. 9. For example, at least one of the special userinformation field 1532 or 1534 may be configured to carry preambleinformation to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. Morespecifically, a receiving device may determine how to generate orconfigure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preambleinformation carried in the special user information fields 1532 or 1534.As described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, each of the special userinformation field 1532 and 1534 may be associated with a special AID12value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned toany STAs belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1500.

In some implementations, a receiving device that receives the triggerframe 1500 may determine, based on the enhanced format indication 1522whether to interpret or process the information carried in the userinformation fields in accordance with legacy or non-legacy versions ofthe physical layer wireless communication protocol. For example, if theenhanced format indication 1522 indicates the legacy PPDU format, thereceiving device may interpret the information in its user informationfield in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of the IEEE 802.11standard, and may transmit a legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving thetrigger frame 1500. On the other hand, if the enhanced format indication1522 indicates the non-legacy PPDU format, the receiving device mayinterpret the information in its user information field in accordancewith the IEEE 802.11be amendment, or future generations, of the IEEE802.11 standard, and may transmit a non-legacy TB PPDU in response toreceiving the trigger frame 1500.

In some other implementations, the presence (or absence) of a specialuser information field in the user information list 1530 may signal thateach user information field of the user information list 1530 isassociated with the non-legacy PPDU format (or the legacy PPDU format).In some aspects, a receiving device may look for one or more specialuser information fields in the user information list 1530 to determinewhether to interpret or process the information carried in the userinformation fields in accordance with legacy or non-legacy versions ofthe physical layer wireless communication protocol. For example, if theuser information list 1530 does not include a special user informationfield, the receiving device may interpret the information in its userinformation field in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax amendment of theIEEE 802.11 standard, and may transmit a legacy TB PPDU in response toreceiving the trigger frame 1500. On the other hand, if the userinformation list 1530 includes one or more special user informationfields 1532 or 1534, the receiving device may interpret the informationin its user information field in accordance with the IEEE 802.11beamendment, or future generations, of the IEEE 802.11 standard, and maytransmit a non-legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving the trigger frame1500.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process 1600 forwireless communication that supports special user information fields fortrigger frames according to some implementations. In someimplementations, the process 1600 may be performed by a wirelesscommunication device operating as or within a network node, such as oneof the STAs 104 or 504 described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5B,respectively.

In some implementations, the process 1600 begins in block 1602 withreceiving a trigger frame soliciting a PPDU to be transmitted by thewireless communication device, where the trigger frame includes a MACheader, a common information field that follows the MAC header, and oneor more user information fields that follow the common informationfield, where the common information field carries information that iscommon to each user associated with the one or more user informationfields. In block 1604, the process 1600 proceeds with determining that afirst user information field of the one or more user information fieldscarries information to be included in a PHY preamble of the PPDU basedon an AID value associated with the first user information field. Inblock 1606, the process 1600 proceeds with generating the PHY preamblebased on the information carried in the first user information field. Inblock 1608, the process 1600 proceeds with transmitting the PPDUincluding the PHY preamble, over a wireless channel, responsive to thereception of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, the AID value may be a special AID value notassigned to any wireless communication devices associated with the sameBSS as the wireless communication device.

In some implementations, the process 1600 may proceed, after thereception of the trigger frame in block 1602 and before the generatingof the PHY preamble in block 1606, by determining that a second userinformation field of the one or more user information fields carriesadditional information to be included in the PHY preamble based on anAID value associated with the second user information field.

In some implementations, the PHY preamble may include an L-SIG, anRL-SIG that immediately follows L-SIG, and a U-SIG that immediatelyfollows RL-SIG and carries information for interpreting one or moresubsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamble,in block 1606, may include determining values for one or more subfieldsof U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user informationfield, where the one or more subfields includes at least one of a PPDUbandwidth subfield that carries information indicating a bandwidth ofthe wireless channel, a spatial reuse subfield that carries informationindicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannelsof the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carriesinformation indicating a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the PPDU.

In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamble,in block 1606, may include determining values for one or more subfieldsof U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user informationfield, where the one or more subfields including at least one of a UL/DLsubfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating a TXOPduration associated with the PPDU, or a PPDU format and compression modesubfield that carries information indicating a format of the PPDU.

In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamblein block 1606 includes determining a number of reserved bits to beincluded in U-SIG based on the information carried in the first userinformation field.

In some implementations, the process 1600 may proceed, after thereception of the trigger frame in block 1602 and before the transmissionof the PPDU in block 1608, by determining a version of a physical layerwireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU based on theAID value associated with the first user information field; andconfiguring a version identifier subfield of U-SIG to carry informationindicating the determined version of the physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol.

In some implementations, the process 1600 may proceed, after thereception of the trigger frame in block 1602, by determining whetherpuncturing is to be performed on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel based on the information carried in the first user informationfield or information carried in the common information field.

In some implementations, the process 1600 may proceed, after thereception of the trigger frame in block 1602 and before thedetermination that the first user information field carries informationto be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU in block 1604, bydetermining a format of the trigger frame based on information carriedin the common information field, where the format is a legacy triggerframe format or a non-legacy trigger frame format; and determining thatthe one or more user information fields includes the first userinformation field based on the determined format of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, the process 1600 may proceed, after thedetermination that the first user information field carries informationto be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU in block 1604 and beforethe generation of the PHY preamble in block 1606, by determining aversion of a physical layer wireless communication protocol associatedwith the one or more user information fields based on informationcarried in at least one of the common information field or the firstuser information field, where the version of the physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol is the same for each of the one or more userinformation fields; and interpreting the information carried in thefirst user information field based on the determined PHY version.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process 1700 forwireless communication that supports special user information fields fortrigger frames according to some implementations. In someimplementations, the process 1600 may be performed by a wirelesscommunication device operating as or within a network node, such as oneof the STAs 104 or 504 described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5B,respectively.

In some implementations, the process 1700 begins in block 1702 withdetermining information to be included in a PHY preamble of a TB PPDU.In block 1704, the process 1700 proceeds with transmitting a triggerframe soliciting the TB PPDU to be transmitted, over a wireless channel,by a receiving device, where the trigger frame including a MAC header, acommon information field that follows the MAC header, and one or moreuser information fields that follow the common information field, wherethe common information field carries information that is common to eachuser associated with the one or more user information fields, and wherethe one or more user information fields includes a first userinformation field that carries the information to be included in the PHYpreamble of the TB PPDU.

In some implementations, the first user information field may beassociated with a special AID value not assigned to any wirelesscommunication devices associated with the same BSS as the receivingdevice. In some implementations, the process 1700 may proceed, after thedetermination of the information to be included in the PHY preamble inblock 1702 and before the transmission of the trigger frame in block1704, by determining the special AID value based on a version of aphysical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TBPPDU.

In some implementations, the one or more user information fields mayfurther include a second user information field that carries additionalinformation to be included in the PHY preamble.

In some implementations, the PHY preamble may include an L-SIG, anRL-SIG that immediately follows L-SIG, and a U-SIG that immediatelyfollows RL-SIG and carries information for interpreting one or moresubsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field may indicate values for one or more subfields ofU-SIG, where the one or more subfields includes at least one of a PPDUbandwidth subfield that carries information indicating a bandwidth ofthe wireless channel, a spatial reuse subfield that carries informationindicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannelsof the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carriesinformation indicating a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the PPDU.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field may indicate values for one or more subfields ofU-SIG, where the one or more subfields includes at least one of a UL/DLsubfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating a TXOPduration associated with the PPDU, or a PPDU format and compression modesubfield that carries information indicating a format of the PPDU.

In some implementations, the information carried in the first userinformation field may indicate a number of reserved bits to be includedin U-SIG.

In some implementations, the process 1700 may proceed, after thedetermination of the information to be included in the PHY preamble inblock 1702 and before the transmission of the trigger frame in block1704, by determining whether puncturing is to be performed on one ormore subchannels of the wireless channel, where at least one of thecommon information field or the first user information field carrieschannel puncturing information indicating whether puncturing is to beperformed on the one or more subchannel.

In some implementations, the common information field may carryinformation indicating a format of the trigger frame, where the formatis a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format.

In some implementations, at least one of the common information field orthe first user information field may further carry informationindicating a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the one or more user information fields, where theversion of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is thesame for each of the one or more user information fields.

FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationdevice 1800 according to some implementations. In some implementations,the wireless communication device 1800 is configured to perform theprocess 1600 described above with reference to FIG. 16. The wirelesscommunication device 1800 can be an example implementation of thewireless communication device 400 described above with reference to FIG.4. For example, the wireless communication device 1800 can be a chip,SoC, chipset, package or device that includes at least one processor andat least one modem (for example, a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or acellular modem).

The wireless communication device 1800 includes a reception component1810, a communication manager 1820, and a transmission component 1830.The communication manager 1820 further includes a special userinformation field identification component 1822 and a PHY preamblegeneration component 1824. Portions of one or more of the components1822 and 1824 may be implemented at least in part in hardware orfirmware. In some implementations, at least some of the components 1822or 1824 are implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory(such as the memory 408). For example, portions of one or more of thecomponents 1822 and 1824 can be implemented as non-transitoryinstructions (or “code”) executable by a processor (such as theprocessor 406) to perform the functions or operations of the respectivecomponent.

The reception component 1810 is configured to receive RX signals, over awireless channel, from one or more other wireless communication devices.In some implementations, the RX signals may include a trigger framesoliciting a PPDU to be transmitted by the wireless communication device1800, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a commoninformation field that follows the MAC header, and one or more userinformation fields that follow the common information field. The commoninformation field may carry information that is common to each userassociated with the one or more user information fields. Thetransmission component 1830 is configured to transmit TX signals, over awireless channel, to one or more other wireless communication devices.In some implementations the TX signals may include the PPDU including aPHY preamble. The communication manager 1120 is configured to control ormanage communications with the one or more other wireless communicationdevices. In some implementations, the special user information fieldidentification component 1822 may determine that a first userinformation field of the one or more user information fields carriesinformation to be included in the preamble of the PPDU based on an AIDvalue associated with the first user information field; and the PHYpreamble generation component 1824 may generate the PHY preamble basedon the information carried in the first user information field.

FIG. 19 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communicationdevice 1900 according to some implementations. In some implementations,the wireless communication device 1900 is configured to perform theprocess 1700 described above with reference to FIG. 17. The wirelesscommunication device 1900 can be an example implementation of thewireless communication device 400 described above with reference to FIG.4. For example, the wireless communication device 1900 can be a chip,SoC, chipset, package or device that includes at least one processor andat least one modem (for example, a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or acellular modem).

The wireless communication device 1900 includes a reception component1910, a communication manager 1920, and a transmission component 1930.The communication manager 1920 further includes a PHY preambledetermination component 1922. Portions of the PHY preamble determinationcomponent 1922 may be implemented at least in part in hardware orfirmware. In some implementations, the PHY preamble determinationcomponent 1922 is implemented at least in part as software stored in amemory (such as the memory 408). For example, portions of the PHYpreamble determination component 1922 can be implemented asnon-transitory instructions (or “code”) executable by a processor (suchas the processor 406) to perform the functions or operations of therespective component.

The reception component 1910 is configured to receive RX signals, over awireless channel, from one or more other wireless communication devices.The communication manager 1920 is configured to control or managecommunications with the one or more other wireless communicationdevices. In some implementations, the PHY preamble determinationcomponent 1922 may determine information to be included in a PHYpreamble of a TB PPDU. The transmission component 1930 is configured totransmit TX signals to one or more other wireless communication devices.In some implementations the TX signals may include a trigger framesoliciting the TB PPDU to be transmitted, over a wireless channel, by areceiving device, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, acommon information field that follows the MAC header, and one or moreuser information fields that follow the common information field. Thecommon information field may carry information that is common to eachuser associated with the one or more user information fields. In someimplementations, the one or more user information fields may include afirst user information field that carries the information to be includedin the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” or “one or moreof” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, includingsingle members. For example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intendedto cover the possibilities of: a only, b only, c only, a combination ofa and b, a combination of a and c, a combination of b and c, and acombination of a and b and c.

The various illustrative components, logic, logical blocks, modules,circuits, operations and algorithm processes described in connectionwith the implementations disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, firmware, software, or combinations of hardware,firmware or software, including the structures disclosed in thisspecification and the structural equivalents thereof. Theinterchangeability of hardware, firmware and software has been describedgenerally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processesdescribed above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware,firmware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system.

Various modifications to the implementations described in thisdisclosure may be readily apparent to persons having ordinary skill inthe art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of thisdisclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theimplementations shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel featuresdisclosed herein.

Additionally, various features that are described in this specificationin the context of separate implementations also can be implemented incombination in a single implementation. Conversely, various featuresthat are described in the context of a single implementation also can beimplemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitablesubcombination. As such, although features may be described above asacting in particular combinations, and even initially claimed as such,one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases beexcised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more exampleprocesses in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram. However, otheroperations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the exampleprocesses that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or moreadditional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, orbetween any of the illustrated operations. In some circumstances,multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, theseparation of various system components in the implementations describedabove should not be understood as requiring such separation in allimplementations, and it should be understood that the described programcomponents and systems can generally be integrated together in a singlesoftware product or packaged into multiple software products.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication performed bya wireless communication device, comprising: receiving a trigger framesoliciting a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol dataunit (PPDU) to be transmitted by the wireless communication device, thetrigger frame including a medium access control (MAC) header, a commoninformation field that follows the MAC header, and one or more userinformation fields that follow the common information field, the commoninformation field carrying information that is common to each userassociated with the one or more user information fields; determiningthat a first user information field of the one or more user informationfields carries information to be included in a physical layer (PHY)preamble of the PPDU based on an association identifier (AID) valueassociated with the first user information field; generating the PHYpreamble based on the information carried in the first user informationfield; and transmitting the PPDU including the PHY preamble, over awireless channel, responsive to the reception of the trigger frame. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the AID value is a special AID value andis not assigned to any wireless communication devices associated withthe same basic service set (BSS) as the wireless communication device.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that a seconduser information field of the one or more user information fieldscarries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble basedon an AID value associated with the second user information field. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signalfield (L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately followsL-SIG, and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately followsRL-SIG and carries information for interpreting one or more subsequentfields of the PHY preamble.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thegenerating of the PHY preamble comprises: determining values for one ormore subfields of U-SIG based on the information carried in the firstuser information field, the one or more subfields including at least oneof a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating abandwidth of the wireless channel, a spatial reuse subfield that carriesinformation indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or moresubchannels of the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfieldthat carries information indicating a version of a physical layerwireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.
 6. The methodof claim 4, wherein the generating of the PHY preamble comprises:determining values for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on theinformation carried in the first user information field, the one or moresubfields including at least one of an uplink or downlink (UL/DL)subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, a transmit opportunity (TXOP) subfield that carriesinformation indicating a TXOP duration associated with the PPDU, or aPPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries informationindicating a format of the PPDU.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein thegenerating of the PHY preamble comprises: determining a number ofreserved bits to be included in U-SIG based on the information carriedin the first user information field.
 8. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: determining a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the PPDU based on the AID valueassociated with the first user information field; and configuring aversion identifier subfield of U-SIG to carry information indicating thedetermined version of the physical layer wireless communicationprotocol.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether puncturing is to be performed on one or more subchannels of thewireless channel based on the information carried in the first userinformation field or information carried in the common informationfield.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining aformat of the trigger frame based on information carried in the commoninformation field, the format being a legacy trigger frame format or anon-legacy trigger frame format; and determining that the one or moreuser information fields includes the first user information field basedon the determined format of the trigger frame.
 11. The method of claim1, further comprising: determining a version of a physical layerwireless communication protocol associated with the one or more userinformation fields based on information carried in at least one of thecommon information field or the first user information field, theversion of the physical layer wireless communication protocol being thesame for each of the one or more user information fields; andinterpreting the information carried in the first user information fieldbased on the determined PHY version.
 12. A wireless communication devicecomprising: at least one modem; at least one processor communicativelycoupled with the at least one modem; and at least one memorycommunicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storingprocessor-readable code that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to:receive a trigger frame soliciting a physical layer convergence protocol(PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to be transmitted by the wirelesscommunication device, the trigger frame including a medium accesscontrol (MAC) header, a common information field that follows the MACheader, and one or more user information fields that follow the commoninformation field, the common information field carrying informationthat is common to each user associated with the one or more userinformation fields; determine that a first user information field of theone or more user information fields carries information to be includedin a physical layer (PHY) preamble of the PPDU based on an associationidentifier (AID) value associated with the first user information field;generate the PHY preamble based on the information carried in the firstuser information field; and transmit the PPDU including the PHYpreamble, over a wireless channel, responsive to the reception of thetrigger frame
 13. The wireless communication device of claim 12, whereinthe PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat ofL-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG, and a universal signalfield (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG and carries informationfor interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble. 14.The wireless communication device of claim 13, wherein the generating ofthe PHY preamble comprises: determining values for one or more subfieldsof U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user informationfield, the one or more subfields including at least one of a PPDUbandwidth subfield that carries information indicating a bandwidth ofthe wireless channel, a spatial reuse subfield that carries informationindicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannelsof the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carriesinformation indicating a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the PPDU.
 15. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 13, wherein the generating of the PHYpreamble comprises: determining values for one or more subfields ofU-SIG based on the information carried in the first user informationfield, the one or more subfields including at least one of an uplink ordownlink (UL/DL) subfield that carries information indicating whetherthe PPDU is transmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSScolor subfield that carries information indicating a BSS colorassociated with the PPDU, a transmit opportunity (TXOP) subfield thatcarries information indicating a TXOP duration associated with the PPDU,or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries informationindicating a format of the PPDU.
 16. The wireless communication deviceof claim 13, wherein the generating of the PHY preamble comprises:determining a number of reserved bits to be included in U-SIG based onthe information carried in the first user information field.
 17. Thewireless communication device of claim 13, wherein execution of theprocessor-readable code is further configured to: determine a version ofa physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with thePPDU based on the AID value associated with the first user informationfield; and configure a version identifier subfield of U-SIG to carryinformation indicating the determined version of the physical layerwireless communication protocol.
 18. The wireless communication deviceof claim 12, wherein execution of the processor-readable code is furtherconfigured to: determine whether puncturing is to be performed on one ormore subchannels of the wireless channel based on the informationcarried in the common information field or the first user informationfield.
 19. A method for wireless communication performed by a wirelesscommunication device, comprising: determining information to be includedin a physical layer (PHY) preamble of a trigger-based (TB) physicallayer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); andtransmitting a trigger frame soliciting the TB PPDU to be transmitted,over a wireless channel, by a receiving device, the trigger frameincluding a medium access control (MAC) header, a common informationfield that follows the MAC header, and one or more user informationfields that follow the common information field, the common informationfield carrying information that is common to each user associated withthe one or more user information fields, the one or more userinformation fields including a first user information field that carriesthe information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. 20.The method of claim 19, wherein the first user information field isassociated with a special association identifier (AID) value and is notassigned to any wireless communication devices associated with the samebasic service set (BSS) as the receiving device.
 21. The method of claim20, further comprising: determining the special AID value based on aversion of a physical layer wireless communication protocol associatedwith the TB PPDU.
 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or moreuser information fields further includes a second user information fieldthat carries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble.23. The method of claim 19, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacysignal field (L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediatelyfollows L-SIG, and a universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediatelyfollows RL-SIG and carries information for interpreting one or moresubsequent fields of the PHY preamble.
 24. The method of claim 23,wherein the information carried in the first user information fieldindicates values for one or more subfields of U-SIG, the one or moresubfields including at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield thatcarries information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel, aspatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whetherspatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel, or a version identifier subfield that carries informationindicating a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the PPDU.
 25. The method of claim 23, wherein theinformation carried in the first user information field indicates valuesfor one or more subfields of U-SIG, the one or more subfields includingat least one of an uplink or downlink (UL/DL) subfield that carriesinformation indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink orthe downlink direction, a BSS color subfield that carries informationindicating a BSS color associated with the PPDU, a transmit opportunity(TXOP) subfield that carries information indicating a TXOP durationassociated with the PPDU, or a PPDU format and compression mode subfieldthat carries information indicating a format of the PPDU.
 26. The methodof claim 23, wherein the information carried in the first userinformation field indicates a number of reserved bits to be included inU-SIG.
 27. The method of claim 19, further comprising: determiningwhether puncturing is to be performed on one or more subchannels of thewireless channel, at least one of the common information field or thefirst user information field carrying channel puncturing informationindicating whether puncturing is to be performed on the one or moresubchannels.
 28. The method of claim 19, wherein the common informationfield carries information indicating a format of the trigger frame, theformat being a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frameformat.
 29. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the commoninformation field or the first user information field further carriesinformation indicating a version of a physical layer wirelesscommunication protocol associated with the one or more user informationfields, the version of the physical layer wireless communicationprotocol being the same for each of the one or more user informationfields.
 30. A wireless communication device comprising: at least onemodem; at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at leastone modem; and at least one memory communicatively coupled with the atleast one processor and storing processor-readable code that, whenexecuted by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at leastone modem, is configured to: determine information to be included in aphysical layer (PHY) preamble of a trigger-based (TB) physical layerconvergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU); and transmit atrigger frame soliciting the TB PPDU to be transmitted, over a wirelesschannel, by a receiving device, the trigger frame including a mediumaccess control (MAC) header, a common information field that follows theMAC header, and one or more user information fields that follow thecommon information field, the common information field carryinginformation that is common to each user associated with the one or moreuser information fields, the one or more user information fieldsincluding a first user information field that carries the information tobe included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.
 31. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 30, further comprising: determining anassociation identifier (AID) value for the first user information fieldbased on a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the TB PPDU.
 32. The wireless communication device ofclaim 30, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field(L-SIG), a repeat of L-SIG (RL-SIG) that immediately follows L-SIG, anda universal signal field (U-SIG) that immediately follows RL-SIG andcarries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields ofthe PHY preamble.
 33. The wireless communication device of claim 32,wherein the information carried in the first user information fieldindicates values for one or more subfields of U-SIG, the one or moresubfields including at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield thatcarries information indicating a bandwidth of the wireless channel, aspatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whetherspatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wirelesschannel, or a version identifier subfield that carries informationindicating a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocolassociated with the PPDU.
 34. The wireless communication device of claim32, wherein the information carried in the first user information fieldindicates values for one or more subfields of U-SIG, the one or moresubfields including at least one of an uplink or downlink (UL/DL)subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU istransmitted in the uplink or the downlink direction, a BSS colorsubfield that carries information indicating a BSS color associated withthe PPDU, or a transmit opportunity (TXOP) subfield that carriesinformation indicating a TXOP duration associated with the PPDU, or aPPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries informationindicating a format of the PPDU.
 35. The wireless communication deviceof claim 32, wherein the information carried in the first userinformation field indicates a number of reserved bits to be included inU-SIG.
 36. The wireless communication device of claim 30, whereinexecution of the processor-readable code is further configured to:determine whether puncturing is to be performed on one or moresubchannels of the wireless channel, at least one of the commoninformation field or the first user information field carrying channelpuncturing information indicating whether puncturing is to be performedon the one or more subchannels.